Eardington Halt railway station
Eardington Halt | |
---|---|
General information | |
Location | Shropshire |
History | |
Original company | West Midland Railway |
Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
Key dates | |
1 February 1862 | Station opened |
9 September 1963 | Closed |
23 May 1970 | Reopened |
1983 | Closed |
Eardington Halt is a closed railway station on the Severn Valley Railway near Eardington, south of Bridgnorth, in Shropshire.
Eardington opened as one of the original stations on the Severn Valley line, with a brick waiting room and single platform, but was not readily accessible from the nearby villages of Chelmarsh and Eardington and was demoted to a halt.
In the later years under British Railways control, Eardington Halt had much of its custom from fishermen at weekends and during the summer months. Although mistakenly thought by some people to have been closed as part of the Beeching axe in 1963 Eardington's planned closure pre-dated his report.
Eardington reopened when reached by preservationists in 1970 reaching up from Bridgnorth. Several attempts were made to restore the halt but Eardington was deleted from the timetable in 1982 because of poor custom, land slippage and the fact that the station is situated on a 1 in 100 gradient. Another problem is the combination of the shortness of the platform face, normal SVR practice of marshalling the guard's compartment in the centre of the train and the arched overbridge immediately to the north of the platform, which would prevent the traincrew from being able to see the guard if the train was stopped with the guard's van on the platform, as is correct practice.
The siding is now used for the storage of permanent way vehicles. A small band of volunteers have occasional "work-ins" to keep the station environs tidy.
There have recently been calls to restore the station for use on gala weekends and such. This has happened previously, during the Autumn 1998 steam gala, when the Hampton - Bridgnorth local called in each direction, despite not being booked to stop.
There are plans to reinstate the original platform which had been removed in 1980s. The current platform face dates from the 1893 extension.[citation needed]
Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Bridgnorth Line and station open |
Great Western Railway Severn Valley Railway |
Hampton Loade Line and station open | ||
Bridgnorth Line and station open |
Severn Valley Railway | Hampton Loade Line and station open |
- Disused railway stations in Shropshire
- Former Great Western Railway stations
- Railway stations opened in 1862
- Railway stations closed in 1963
- Railway stations opened in 1970
- Railway stations closed in 1983
- Severn Valley Railway
- Beeching closures in England
- 1862 establishments in England
- Shropshire building and structure stubs
- West Midlands (region) railway station stubs